ArtBistro

Art is what I call a "luxury" item (and I am an artist). It's not a "need" like clothing, shelter, transportation, healthcare, etcetera, and sadly the market is now saturated with "artists" of little or no real talent. So sadly, this combination of being a luxury item (especially in today's economy), and artists possessing little or no real talent (work is instead centered around current commercial or "popular" trends and fads that drive prices up, only for the purchaser to later realize the piece is of no real value, monetarily or aesthetics-wise), does hurt the process of selling good art. The reason I came across this site is because I was thinking about giving up on selling/showing my art, and needed some encouragement. But if the whole business of "selling your art" is still about pretentiously babbling on and on about it with no real point to other artists and putting others down, then I guess I'll just make it for me and God.

Kelly
–a born-again Christian from Lawrence, Kansas (who received scholarships from Pratt and the K.C. Art Institute, just in case you were going to assume Kansans have no artistic talent, either)

I am often asked why I am working at Home Depot. The answer is simple, I like to eat. The whole starving artist thing is just not my cup of tea. My art is something I am, not just something I do, therefore I work to pay the bills and then give up other activities so I can work on my art, sometimes even sleep. Realistically, I tried to work full time as an artist and found that the dollar signs were in the way of my creativity. Everyone is different, therefore we have to fight to find what works for us.

Great article. Really puts things in perspective.

I hope you're right, Amy. Its pretty fightening out there, artist or no. I guess whatever happens we'll all get by somehow.

I like your short, concise response to being an Artist and what it important is that we create,
and that may not mean making a living from it. Simple but profound. I needed to see that again,
as I have been told that before. Thanks Sivadart!

I agree that it is just plain difficult to make a living in the arts. With the increase of the digital, it has displaced more artists, designers, photographers and the like. People think just because they can afford the expensive equipment, that they are now artists with just a few short courses behind them. Companies are sometimes choosing to do less with quality work and they will give an "in-house" artist who has limited experience with gear and really more B.S. to sell them that they can give the client the goods. My personal experience is that 20 years professional experience as a photographer classically trained with all the passion needed to be gifted...I had a twelve year run as a corporate photographer, flying in lear jets, photographing rock stars...I can do many styles of photography well, better than well, standing on my head with my eyes closed, but...I have been displaced now for as long as that great run was in my field...about twelve years. I haven't given up on making my way back to my first love and making a living at it. A new website torophoto.com will illustrate that I am not fresh out of photo school, but that I have achieve some tenure with my art, my craft. I guess beyond venting here about the state of society and making a living in the arts, it has been frustrating to see for me in my field, photography, some of the worst examples of the medium published in books and magazines. No one seems to be really original anymore. No one since way back in the earliest centuries is achieving really something awesome and grand in my medium. Copycats with this name photographer having a run with some tired technique that makes its rounds to all the so-called superstars of photography. Much is not original and much is recycled technique.

The reason Michelangelo and DaVinci were so amazing is that they were connected to God, and God blessed them with gifts to show where the best true art comes from...God. Today's culture does for the most part not recognize God in anything and that is why I believe art today compared with the great art of the past is that artists do not have the link with the source of everything greater than themselves...again, God. Jesus Christ, who is alive and well if only other artists will believe...there would be a wealth of new found creation of great art, flowing from within if only they will believe where their gift in art comes from. May we as artists recognize in this difficult time, our blessings in our creative gifts, and I would like to see a rebirth of a Renaissance in the arts like in age old past. Maybe God will bless us with a new period as rich as the past and an ability to make a living in it as well. Good luck to all...

That was a compelling article. I have always loved art, but I never persued it because i didn't want to be a struggling artist. So instead i persued engineering and now i'm struggling anyway. I can build houses, I can design websites, build computers and networks, interior design, tattoo design, etc., but all my talent just lingers around like a cruel joke. I would love to be a video game designer or a comic book artist or a web designer or almost anything that would allow mw to be creative and happy, but I'm 29 now and I don't want to be 31 and in the same position. My fear of wasting more time is leaving me unable to make a decision. Is there any advice or info that you could give me?